Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 65: The Disparity Between Him and His Friends

*Roar!*

John moved with a newfound confidence, his blade flickering and slashing fast. He hit two more Fog Seekers, his sword slicing through their grey, skinless bodies like a hot wire through wax.

They died right on the spot. As his sword was proving more than enough to handle all of them, he didn’t hold back anymore. He even took the initiative and moved toward two more that were lurking near the edge of the fog.

He handled five alone, moving like a blur compared to the slow-motion nightmare of his teammates. While he was clearing his side, the remaining two moved to attack his friends.

Unlike him, their attacks didn’t instantly kill the monsters. Not even close.

First off, their initial Athanasia stats weren’t even close to John’s! On top of that, they didn’t have John’s system; they didn’t enjoy the synchronization 10% effect. John had felt he was being dealt cheaply by this large cut in stats, not realising he actually had a privilege that others didn’t!

Unlike him, the rest of the team only enjoyed 1% of their initial attributes! And Cissel and Ricky couldn’t use their second abilities at all!

That crushing limitation also included their weapons. Only the club that John had handed over to Luke was an exception, but with the miserable base attributes of Luke and the weapon’s naturally lower level than John’s longsword, there wasn’t even a comparison to be made. Yet John was oblivious to all this!

For John, it was literally a walk in the park! He even toyed with the last two Fog Seekers on his side, testing his abilities. He used MP Absorption and Object Lockdown, ending up absorbing all the Mental Points he had exhausted so far. And with a casual flick of his wrist, he ended the monsters’ existence.

"I killed five, how are things on your side..."

Just when John casually exterminated the fifth Fog Seeker, he turned around with a triumphant smile. But that smile froze on his face.

In front of him, his friends were literally struggling for their lives against just two monsters!

He spotted them cornered. Ricky was trying his absolute best to shield against the attacks of one of the beasts. He held his oval shield high, but every time the monster’s claws slammed into the metal, Ricky was forced back, his boots skidding across the ground. He retreated a couple of steps with every clash!

As for the other Fog Seeker, Luke was struggling to stop its advance. He fared a bit better thanks to the big wooden club, which possessed enough power to push the monster a few steps back with every hit, but the damage he was dealing was negligible. A low figure of 4 rose on top of that Fog Seeker’s head with every heavy swing of the club. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

The situation was even worse for the others. Cissel moved in, using her speed ignition ability and weapons to help Ricky, but they were both causing an embarrassing damage of only 1 with each hit! To these monsters, it must have felt like being pecked by birds.

Lastly was Elena! In John’s vision, he could finally realise why Nikolas was so obsessed with her. The girl was a force of nature on her own! Her combat style was a masterclass in close-range assault; she first dashed forward with explosive speed, then hurled her two small sledgehammers toward the monster with pinpoint accuracy.

The weapons rebounded off the beast’s body, flying high into the air. Before they could fall, she leapt with incredible agility, snatched them midair, and landed a crushing double blow!

She was acting naturally, her connected and fluid moves the clear result of years of dedicated, elite training. And yet, despite the perfection of her moves and attacks, each of her strikes resulted in pathetic damage of 1. Only Luke, with his massive club and raw strength, was doing better than all of three combined!

"Hoof... Hoof... That was... Tiring!"

As John stood there, taken aback by this miserable performance, frozen by the unbelievable performance of his friends, the frantic skirmish finally drew to a close. Luke’s side managed to kill their monster first through sheer persistence, and then the group moved as one to aid the others.

It had taken them nearly two minutes of desperate, life-or-death struggle just to kill two monsters—while John had taken less than thirty seconds to exterminate five of them, even toying with them in the process!

"What the fck happened?!!" John was finally jolted awake from his stupor.

The first thing he did was sweep the perimeter with his enhanced vision. When he was certain no other monsters were lurking in the immediate vicinity, he rushed over to check on his teammates. They looked like a complete mess—drenched in sweat, gasping for air, and visibly shaken.

"Our attributes... They are... Much lower than what we initially had!" Ricky panted, leaning heavily on his shield. The others were in similar states of exhaustion. Yet, despite their fatigue, they all looked at John with a mixture of envy and awe.

He didn’t have a scratch on him; he wasn’t even out of breath. He looked better than ever, almost glowing with activity and vitality compared to their drained state.

"Your attributes were reduced? Mine as well..." John paused, his mind spinning as he tried to process the staggering difference in their performances.

"No, you are far stronger than us," Cissel said, finally managing to stand upright. Her breathing was shallow. "I can sense it... You are indeed weaker than your former self, but not nearly as weak as we are. It’s like..."

She paused, struggling to find the right words to describe the vague feeling she was receiving from her third ability. "It’s like we lost almost everything. We’re fighting with a tiny fraction of our power—maybe 1% or even less!"

"1%?!!" John was taken aback by the realisation.

He suddenly recalled something and turned his eyes toward Luke. He remembered that Luke had performed noticeably better than the others. ’Don’t tell me... It’s thanks to the club I gave him!’

The realisation hit him like a lightning blow. He understood now why humans brought to this Source Code World were always massacred. Fighting with only 1% of one’s attributes, gears, and weapons? It was a death sentence. At this moment, he felt truly blessed to have the system on his side, granting him a tenfold advantage over his peers.

"If that’s the case..." He looked past their area, spotting several grey silhouettes pacing within the black-coded fog world. New Fog Seekers were gathering up by the annoying sound devices in their direction. "We need to change our tactics immediately!"